Tuesday, January 08, 2019

Announcing...Hunt the Avenger!

Out of tragedy, a hero is born! In the roaring heart of the crucible, steel is made. In the raging flame of personal tragedy, men are sometimes forged into something more than human.

A figure of ice and steel, Richard Benson is an avatar of vengeance—a chilled impersonal force of justice masking a cold genius and nearly supernatural power behind a face as white and still as arctic frost. His pale eyes, like a polar dawn, only hint at the terrible force evildoers heedlessly unleashed the day they created…The Avenger!

In the annals of Justice, Inc.’s battles against spies, crooks, and killers, only one malefactor has escaped The Avenger’s clutches not once, but twice—Baron Ulrich Blau-Montag, the half-man, half-machine known as the Iron Skull!

But when Benson and his cohorts partner with the mysterious and saucy Domino Lady to hunt down the demented half-robot, and go on to clash with other supervillains, such as the Nazi spy Werner Konrad and a diabolical weapons dealer known as the Countess, a frightening pattern emerges…are they the creatures of a hidden puppetmaster?

And is Benson the hunter?

Or the prey?

Hunt the Avenger

* * * * *

Hunt the Avenger by Win Scott Eckert will soon be available for preorder, shipping direct from Moonstone Books in two editions: an exclusive, signed limited edition “unmasked” hardcover (featuring gorgeous Ellen Patrick—the Domino Lady—sans mask) and a “masked” softcover (with Ellen wearing her trademark black domino mask).

For now, enjoy the stunning cover art by Malcolm McClinton, and stay tuned for preordering information, coming soon from Moonstone Books!

Monday, January 07, 2019

Everything Is Connected: The Wold Newton Cycle of Win Scott Eckert


While I would prefer that readers discover on their own the deeply interconnected nature of my seemingly unrelated tales, I’ve come to realize that this is not the wisest marketing strategy in terms of enticing new readers to take a chance on my stories, so I’ve created an outline illustrating how my tales are linked, both to each other and to the works of Philip José Farmer (I’ve noted the latter to avoid confusion). 

It should go without saying that all are connected in varying degrees to Farmer’s Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, but there you go, I’ve said it anyway.

Publication info is available on my site’s bibliography.

I’ve tried to keep this relatively spoiler free, but in identifying the connective tissue, there’s no avoiding mild spoilers. The vast majority of readers are not picking up on the links anyway, so really, what do I have to lose by disclosing some high-level spoilers?

Each and every crossover is not listed. That’s what my Crossovers, Volumes 1 & 2, and Sean Lee Levin’s Crossovers Expanded, Volumes 1 & 2, are for.

Following are recurring antagonists and the aliases used in various stories (if a character is unlicensed, aliases or descriptive hints are used):
·         XauXaz / Wolf Larsen / Baron Ulf von Waldman / Baron von Hessel / Doctor Karl Walden  / Doctor Karl Stipier
·         Doctor Natas / Doctor Shan Ming Fu (Doctor Fu Manchu)
·         Lili Bugov, the Countess Idivzhopu / “The Countess” / Lilya Zarov
·         Madame Inga (Fah Lo Suee)
·         Dame Sinestre (Sumuru)

_________________________________

2070–12,000 BCE–2140

Time’s Last Gift (Farmer)
Protagonist: John Gribardsun
Other: time travel


Approximately 10,000 BCE
The Khokarsa/Ancient Opar cycle by Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey. I won’t recap all the tales here, since Carey has already created a handy checklist.


1795
“Is He in Hell?”
Protagonist: The Scarlet Pimpernel (Sir Percy Blakeney)
Antagonist: Leonox
Other: Eridaneans; the Heart of Ahriman

“Nadine’s Invitation”
Protagonists: the first generation of the Wold Newton Family
Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody


“The Wild Huntsman”
Protagonist: John Gribardsun
Antagonist: XauXaz
Other: the first generation of the Wold Newton Family; the Eridaneans and Capelleans; distorters; time travel; the Secrets of the Nine series

1798
“Marguerite’s Tears”
Protagonists: Doctor Siger Holmes and the first generation of the Wold Newton Family
Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

1815
“Violet’s Lament”
Protagonists: Doctor Siger Holmes and Violet Blakeney
Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

1820
“Zorro’s Rival”
Protagonist: Zorro (Don Diego de la Vega)
Antagonist: El Halcón (Violette Durand aka Violet Blakeney)

1872
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg (Farmer)
Protagonist: Phileas Fogg
Antagonist: Captain Nemo/Professor Moriarty
Other: the Eridaneans and Capelleans; distorters

“Being an Account of the Delay in Green River, Wyoming of Phileas Fogg, World Traveler”
Protagonists: Phileas Fogg and the Lone Ranger
Antagonist: Doctor Shan Ming Fu

1893
The Sea Wolf (Jack London)
Antagonist: Wolf Larsen


1895
“The Problem of the Sore Bridge—Among Others” (Farmer)
Protagonists: A. J. Raffles and Harry “Bunny” Manders
Antagonist: alien shapeshifter (“a worm unknown to science”)


1899
“No Ghosts Need Apply”
Protagonists: The Phantom; Barker and Nash
Antagonist: Colonel Sebastian Moran
Other: John Gribardsun

1916
The Adventure of the Peerless Peer (Farmer)
Protagonists: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson
Antagonist: Von Bork

1917
“The Adventure of the Fallen Stone”
Protagonists: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson
Antagonists: Von Bork and Baron Ulf von Waldman

1918
Escape from Loki: Doc Savage’s First Adventure (Farmer)
Protagonist: Clark Savage (James Clarke Wildman)
Antagonists: Baron von Hessel and Lili Bugov, the Countess Idivzhopu
Other: “a worm unknown to science”

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time (Farmer)
Protagonist: Tarzan
Antagonists: Jelke Helmson and James D. Stonecraft
Other: The Crystal Tree; time travel

1920–1921
Ironcastle (J.-H. Rosny and Farmer)
Protagonist: Hareton Ironcastle

1929
“Iron and Bronze” (with Christopher Paul Carey)
Protagonists: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman) and Hareton Ironcastle
Antagonists: Harry Killer and Antinea

1937
“Captain Midnight at Ultima Thule”
Protagonist: Captain Midnight
Antagonists: Sun Koh and Madame Inga

1939
Tarzan and the Castaways (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
Antagonist?: Captain Larsen




1941
“Shadows Over Kunlun”
Protagonist: Lance Star
Antagonist: Doctor Natas
Other: Madame Inga

1944
“The Glass Lady”
Protagonists: Richard Benson (The Avenger) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Werner Conrad, the Iron Skull, and the Iron Skull’s daughter, Lenni Blau-Montag

“Death and the Countess”
Protagonist: Richard Benson (The Avenger)
Antagonist: The Countess

1945
“Happy Death Men”
Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Doctor Karl Walden and the Countess (aka Lilya Zarov)

“According to Plan of a One-Eyed Trickster”
Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Doctor Karl Walden and the Countess (aka Lilya Zarov)
Other: alien shapeshifter/human hybrid (see “Sore Bridge”)


1946
“Toil and Trouble”
Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: The Iron Skull, Lenni Blau-Montag, and Doctor Karl Walden

“The Eye of Oran”
Protagonists: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman), “Shrinking” Violet Holmes, and Adélaïde Lupin
Antagonist: Doctor Natas

“Les Levres Rouges”
Protagonist: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman) and Adélaïde Lupin
Antagonist: Madame Elisabeth (Countess Erzsébet Báthory)

1948
“Dame Sinestre”
Protagonists: The Green Ghost (George Chance) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Leonox and Dame Sinestre
Other: the Heart of Ahriman

1949
“The Vanishing Devil”
Protagonist: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman)
Antagonist: Doctor Natas


1964
“Fang and Sting”
Protagonists: The Green Hornet and Kato
Antagonists: Doctor Shan Ming Fu and his granddaughter, Doctor Isabella Fang


1965
“The Atomos Affair”
Protagonists: Alexander Waverly, Napoleon Solo, and Illya Kuryakin (hinted, not named)
Antagonist: Mme. Atomos


1967
A Girl and Her Cat (with Matthew Baugh)
Protagonists: Honey West and T.H.E. Cat
Antagonists: Shan Ming Fu, Isabella Fang, and Doctor Karl Stipier
Other: Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin (hinted, not named); distorters

1973
“Progress”
Protagonists: The Green Hornet and Kato
Antagonists: Shan Ming Fu and Isabella Fang
 
1973
The Evil in Pemberley House (Farmer and Eckert)
Protagonist: Patricia Wildman
Antagonists: The Dowager Duchess of Greystoke, Doctor Augustus Moran, other family members
Other: Doctor James Clarke Wildman and Adélaïde Lupin Wildman; Violet Holmes; Helen Benson; Jelke Helmson

1974
The Scarlet Jaguar
Protagonists: Pat Wildman, Parker, and Helen Benson
Antagonist: The Scarlet Jaguar
Other: Doc Wildman and Adélaïde Wildman; Violet Holmes; Doctor von Hessel


Saturday, December 01, 2018

The Green Ghost: Declassified - audio book!

Along with my fellow creators, Eric Fein, David Niehaus, and Malcolm McClinton, I'm very pleased to announce that The Green Ghost: Declassified (Moonstone Books) is now available as an audio book read by Roger Price!


The audio book features seven prose tales.


Of course, if you also want the two comic stories and the accompanying illustrations to the prose stories, then please buy the print version, which is available in:


The Green Ghost—magician sleuth George Chance—returns! Once a debunker of the supernatural, the Green Ghost terrorized criminals with his horrific skull-face and wraithlike abilities. But criminologist Chance came back from Europe changed—for his wartime experiences taught him: the occult and night creatures were real! Thrill to new prose and comic book tales featuring a multitude of murderers, monsters, and crossovers with I. V. Frost, the Domino Lady, and more!
Audio book contents:

ZOMBIES UNDER BROADWAY by Win Scott Eckert and Eric Fein

DEATH SCREAM OVERDRIVE by Eric Fein
Featuring The Black Shrike and The Green Ghost

GHOST OF A CHANCE by Howard Hopkins

CHANCE OF A GHOST by Win Scott Eckert

THE PHANTOM’S GHOST by Eric Fein
Featuring The Green Ghost and the Phantom of the Opera

DAME SINSESTRE by Win Scott Eckert
Featuring The Green Ghost and The Domino Lady vs. a Rohmer-esque femme fatale

MURDER IN THE MIND’S EYE by Eric Fein
Featuring The Green Ghost and I. V. Frost

I'm especially pleased that we were able to include a previously unpublished Green Ghost story by the late Howard Hopkins. Howard was a fantastic writer and a pulp expert. Hopefully the rescue of this tale and it's inclusion in this collection begins to pay back, in some small way, the inspiration and friendship which Howard showed me.
The Green Ghost: Declassified audio book is available at:

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

It's Convention Season!

I'll be attending two conventions, two weeks in a row!

First up is PulpFest 2018 / FarmerCon 100, held in Mars/Cranberry, PA, July 26-29, 2018. Not only am I an attendee, I'm also a FarmerCon organizer. And I'll be attending as a dealer, working at the Meteor House table as well as selling my own, non-Meteor House books.

Click here for the full PulpFest 2018 / FarmerCon 100 Programming Schedule


My panels:

Thursday, July 26


10:45 – 11:15 PM — FarmerCon 100: World Building and Writing in the Nine Continuity (Win Scott Eckert & Frank Schildiner, moderated by Paul Spiteri)


Friday, July 27

2:30 – 3:05 PM — FarmerCon 100: An Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke (Chuck Loridans, Christopher Paul Carey, & Win Scott Eckert)


Saturday, July 28

12:30 – 1:45 PM — FarmerCon 100: Farmer Jam (all members of FarmerCon 100 and PulpFest 2018 are welcome to read from their favorite Philip José Farmer work or reminisce about the author and his work)

2:55 – 3:50 PM — FarmerCon 100: Reading Duet (featuring New Fictioneers Win Scott Eckert & Frank Schildiner)


9:10 – 9:50 PM — FarmerCon 100: The Dark Heart of Loki: Philip José Farmer Revisits 1918 (Christopher Paul Carey & Win Scott Eckert, moderated by Paul Spiteri)

~ ~ ~

The next weekend is the 2018 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum & Tarzan Celebration, held in Morgan City, LA, August 2-5, 2018.

Click here to watch video

The Dum Dum event, celebrating 100 years since the 1918 release of the first Tarzan movie, which was filmed in Morgan City, is co-sponsored by the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Burroughs Bibliophiles.

I'll have a table in the Dealer's Room at which I'll be selling the new Meteor House edition of Farmer's authorized novel Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time (available for the first time in hardcover!), as well as some of my other books.

My panel:


Friday, August 3

2:00 PM — I'll be giving a talk about Burroughs' influence on another famous science fiction author: From ERB to PJF: How Burroughs Inspired Philip José Farmer






Friday, July 20, 2018

2018 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum & Tarzan Celebration

Yesterday morning, I was pleased to chat with the fine folks at KNOE 8 News here in Monroe, LA, about the upcoming 2018 Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum & Tarzan Celebration, in Morgan City, LA, August 2-5, 2018.

Click here to watch video

As a part of this television interview, I was given permission by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., to announce that I will be an authorized Burroughs writer! The working title for my novel is Korak at the Earth's Core, and is tentatively slated for late 2019, as I am first working on my collaborative novel with Philip José Farmer, The Monster on Hold. To say I'm over the moon about writing an authorized Burroughs novel is a vast understatement--the world at the Earth's Core is my favorite ERB series, and I'm thrilled that I'll be able to contribute to it. 


The Dum Dum event, celebrating 100 years since the 1918 release of the first Tarzan movie, which was filmed in Morgan City, is co-sponsored by the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Burroughs Bibliophiles.

At the Dum Dum, I'll be giving a talk about Burroughs' influence on another famous science fiction author, Philip José Farmer, on Friday, August 3, at 2:00 PM. And I'll have a table in the Dealer's Room at which I'll be selling the new Meteor House edition of Farmer's authorized novel Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time (available for the first time in hardcover!), as well as some of my other books.

It will be a fun time, with guest speakers, dinners, a dealer's room, a swamp tour, and self-guided movie location driving tour. Check it out!

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time – Now in Hardcover!

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time
by Philip José Farmer

Meteor House, as a part of the yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Philip José Farmer, is thrilled to announce the first hardcover publication of his authorized Tarzan novel, Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time—a book that takes place in 1918, the year of Farmer’s birth!

One of the most famous heroes in literature is back! Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, returns with a vengeance in this action-packed adventure by Philip José Farmer, Hugo Award winner, Nebula Grand Master, and author of the incredible Riverworld saga.

Tarzan’s beloved mate, Jane, has been kidnapped, and the furious ape-man will let nothing stand in the way of rescuing her—not even a sinister safari whose target is Tarzan himself. With fierce Masai trackers leading the chase, a trio of white hunters are hellbent on capturing the Jungle Lord. But as the pursuers, and their uncanny half-human tracker, close in from behind, Tarzan races toward even greater danger ahead.

For the trail leads to a bizarre, long-forgotten land boasting a multitude of strange and terrifying mysteries: the City Built by God, the Hideous Hunter, the One to Avoid, and most shocking of all, the Crystal Tree of Time—whose seductive powers could ultimately spell Tarzan’s doom . . .

Philip José Farmer, a descendant of the actual Greystoke family, and a recipient of the prestigious Golden Lion Award, bestowed by the Burroughs Bibliophiles at the 1970 Dum-Dum, is famous for his adventure novels starring Tarzanic characters. Now, in Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time, authorized by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Farmer lends his vast imagination to the legend of the Lord of the Apes himself!


~   ~   ~  ~  ~

In addition, this handsome new edition, which sports a gorgeous painted cover by well known Burroughs artist Mark Wheatley, a new Foreword by longtime Burroughs scholar Robert R. Barrett, and a new Introduction by Farmer expert Win Scott Eckert, will also be released in a trade paperback edition.

Now accepting preorders, the book will be released at FarmerCon 100, held in conjunction with PulpFest 2018 in Pittsburgh, PA, July 26-29, 2018. As always, readers who preorder and attend FarmerCon/PulpFest can pick up their copies there—and as an added bonus, get them signed by Wheatley and Eckert! All other copies will ship immediately after FarmerCon 100.

I will also have copies available at my table at the Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum 2018 & Tarzan Celebration, in Morgan City, LA, August 2-5, 2018. The event, celebrating 100 years since the release of the first Tarzan movie, which was filmed in Morgan City, is cosponsored by the Cajun Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Burroughs Bibliophiles.



Trademarks TARZAN(R)  and EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS(R) owned by EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, INC., and Used By Permission.